Prevalence of elevated blood pressure among first grade students in elementary school in Taipei

Background/Purpose. To evaluate the prevalence of elevated blood pressure (BP) and the associated anthropometric factors among first-grade elementary school students in Taipei county. Methods. We measured height, weight, neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure (BP) in 2344 first-grade children who were undergoing a regular health examination at 6 elementary schools in Taipei County in 2007. Results. The overall prevalence of elevated BP was 190%. The prevalence of elevated BP was significantly higher in boys (21.1%) than in girls (15.7%) (p = 0.0002). Compared with the reference group, children with high NC (41.9% vs 17.5%, p <0.0001) or high WC (45.9% vs 17.4%, p <0.0001) had a higher prevalence of elevated BP. The prevalence of elevated BP was higher in obese children than in children with normal weight (37.6% vs 15.8%, p <0.0001). In the multivariate logistic regression, boys had a higher risk of elevated BP than girls (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.13-1.75). The OR for elevated BP in children with high WC was higher than that in children with normal WC (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.18-3.37). Obese children (OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.14-2.92) and overweight children (OR = 1.99,95% CI = 1.48-2.68) had a higher risk of elevated BP than children with normal weight. Conclusion. This study found that overweight and obesity are associated with elevated BP. We suggest that BP measurements should be included in regular health examinations among children.